Assessment of bridge scour countermeasures at selected bridges in the United States, 2014–18
Thomas P. Suro, Richard J. Huizinga, Ryan L. Fosness, Taylor Dudunake
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2019-5080
Erosion of the streambed, known also as scour, around pier 3 of the New York State Thruway bridge over Schoharie Creek caused the pier to fail, which ultimately resulted in bridge failure during the flooding event of April 5, 1987. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) responded to the need for...
Water-quality comparison of the Gulf Coast aquifer system at various scales in Texas from National Water-Quality Assessment groundwater studies, 2013–15
Patricia B. Ging
2020, Fact Sheet 2020-3010
One of the objectives of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project is to assess groundwater quality in aquifers that are important sources of drinking water such as the coastal lowlands aquifer system, which is often referred to in Texas as the “Gulf Coast aquifer system.” The Gulf...
Application of decadal modeling approach to forecast barrier island evolution, Dauphin Island, Alabama
Rangley C. Mickey, Elizabeth Godsey, P. Soupy Dalyander, Victor Gonzalez, Robert L. Jenkins III, Joseph W. Long, David M. Thompson, Nathaniel G. Plant
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1001
Forecasting barrier island evolution provides coastal managers and stakeholders the ability to assess the resiliency of these important coastal environments that are home to both established communities and existing natural habitats. This study uses an established coupled model framework to assess how Dauphin Island, Alabama, responds to various storm and...
Development of a modeling framework for predicting decadal barrier island evolution
Rangley C. Mickey, Joseph W. Long, P. Soupy Dalyander, Robert L. Jenkins III, David M. Thompson, Davina Passeri, Nathaniel G. Plant
2020, Open-File Report 2019-1139
Predicting the decadal evolution of barrier island systems is important for coastal managers who propose restoration or preservation alternatives aimed at increasing the resiliency of the island and its associated habitats or communities. Existing numerical models for simulating morphologic changes typically include either long-term (for example, longshore transport under quiescent...
Interaction of bacterial communities and indicators of water quality in shoreline sand, sediment, and water of Lake Michigan
Meredith B. Nevers, Muruleedhara Byappanahalli, Cindy H. Nakatsu, Julie L. Kinzelman, Mantha S. Phanikumar, Dawn Shively, Ashley Spoljaric
2020, Water Research (178)
Shoreline sand harbors high concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) that may be resuspended into the water column through washing and resuspension. Studies have explored coastal processes that influence this sand-water flux for FIB, but little is known about how microbial markers of contamination or the bacterial community interact in...
Analysis of nearshore placement of sediments at Ogden Dunes, Indiana
David L Young, Katherine E Brutsche, Honghai Li, Brian C McFall, Erin C Maloney, Kaitlyn E McClain, David F. Bucaro, Jessica Z. LeRoy, James J. Duncker, Kevin K. Johnson, P. Ryan Jackson
2020, Report
The harbor structures/shoreline armoring on the southern Lake Michigan shoreline interrupt sand migration. Ogden Dunes, Indiana, and the nearby Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore observed shoreline erosion due to engineered structures associated with Burns Waterway Harbor, east of Ogden Dunes, impeding natural east to west sediment migration. To remedy this, USACE...
Testing the interactive effects of flooding and salinity on tidal marsh plant productivity
Kevin Buffington, Arianna C Goodman, Chase M. Freeman, Karen M. Thorne
2020, Aquatic Botany (164)
Tidal wetlands support plant communities that facilitate carbon storage, accrete soil, and provide habitat for terrestrial and aquatic species. Climate change is likely to alter estuaries through sea-level rise and changing precipitation patterns, although the ecological responses are uncertain. We were interested...
USGS-Water Resources Mission Area progress toward an internet of water
David L. Blodgett, Emily Read
2020, Conference Paper
No abstract available....
Use of multiple temperature logger models can alter conclusions
Joanna B. Whittier, Jacob T. Westhoff, Craig P. Paukert, Robin M. Rotman
2020, Water (12)
Remote temperature loggers are often used to measure water temperatures for ecological studies and by regulatory agencies to determine whether water quality standards are being maintained. Equipment specifications are often given a cursory review in the methods; however, the effect of temperature logger model is rarely addressed in the discussion....
The first occurrence of the Australian redclaw crayfish Cherax quadricarinatus (von Martens, 1868) in the contiguous United States
Cayla Morningstar, Wesley M. Daniel, Matthew Neilson, Ara K. Yazaryan
2020, BioInvasions Records (9) 120-126
The Australian redclaw crayfish, Cherax quadricarinatus, is a popular aquaculture crayfish that has been introduced around the world. Here we report the first occurrence of the species in the United States in Lake Balboa, Los Angeles, California. The impacts of this species are largely unknown, and further research is needed...
Assessing water-quality changes in agricultural drainages: Examples from oxbow lake tributaries in Mississippi, USA and simulation-based power analyses
Jennifer C. Murphy, Matthew B. Hicks, Shane J. Stocks
2020, Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (75) 218-230
Hydrology and water quality (suspended sediment, total nitrogen, ammonia, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, nitrate plus nitrite, and total phosphorus (TP)) were monitored in two small agricultural drainages in northwestern Mississippi to document changes in water quality that coincided with the implementation of BMPs in upstream drainages. Using an event-based dataset and...
Estimating abiotic thresholds for sagebrush condition class in the western United States
Stephen P. Boyte, Bruce K. Wylie, Yingxin Gu, Donald J. Major
2020, Rangeland Ecology & Management (73) 297-308
Sagebrush ecosystems of the western United States can transition from extended periods of relatively stable conditions to rapid ecological change if acute disturbances occur. Areas dominated by native sagebrush can transition from species-rich native systems to altered states where non-native annual grasses dominate, if resistance to annual grasses is low....
Preserving meander bend geometry through scale
Ethan J. Shavers, Larry Stanislawski, Barbara P. Buttenfield, Barry J. Kronenfeld
2020, Conference Paper
Stream meander geometry is a function of hydrologic, geologic, and anthropogenic forces. Meander morphometrics are used in geomorphic classification, ecological characterization, and tectonic and hydrologic change detection. Thus, detailed measurement and classification of meander geometry is imperative to multiscale representation of hydrographic features, which raises important questions. What meander geometries...
Assessing the potential to mitigate climate-related expansion of largemouth bass populations using angler harvest
Christopher J. Sullivan, Daniel A. Isermann, Kaitlin E. Whitlock, Jonathan F. Hansen
2020, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (77) 520-533
Climate-related changes in fish communities can present new challenges for fishery managers who must address declines in cool- and cold-water sportfish while dealing with increased abundance of warm-water sportfish. We used largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) in Wisconsin lakes as model populations to determine whether angler harvest provides a realistic method...
A primer of fishery studies in Grand Canyon: The nonnative fish removal story
Michael D. Yard
2020, Newsletter
Globally, rivers have become the most altered of ecosystems, chiefly due to pollution, water withdrawals, and dams that have modified their former function, and led to large and unforeseen impacts, particularly for fish populations. Extensive research is directed at studying impacts of dams because they sever migration routes and change...
Testing prediction accuracy in short-term ecological studies
Connor M. Wood, Zachary G. Loman, Shawn T. McKinney, Cynthia S. Loftin
2020, Basic and Applied Ecology (43) 77-85
Applied ecology is based on an assumption that a management action will result in a predicted outcome. Testing the prediction accuracy of ecological models is the most powerful way of evaluating the knowledge implicit in this cause-effect relationship, however, the prevalence of predictive modeling...
Quality control and assessment of interpreter consistency of annual land cover reference data in an operational national monitoring program
Bruce Pengra, Stephen V. Stehman, Josephine Horton, Daryn Dockter, Todd A. Schroeder, Zhiqiang Yang, Warren B Cohen, Sean P. Healey, Thomas Loveland
2020, Remote Sensing of Environment (238)
The U.S. Geological Survey Land Change Monitoring, Assessment and Projection (USGS LCMAP) initiative is working toward a comprehensive capability to characterize land cover and land cover change using dense Landsat time series data. A suite of products including annual land cover maps and annual land cover change maps will be...
Transitioning from change detection to monitoring with remote sensing: A paradigm shift
Curtis E. Woodcock, Thomas Loveland, Martin Herold, Marvin E. Bauer
2020, Remote Sensing of Environment (238)
The use of time series analysis with moderate resolution satellite imagery is increasingly common, particularly since the advent of freely available Landsat data. Dense time series analysis is providing new information on the timing of landscape changes, as well as improving the quality and accuracy of information being derived from...
Planetary sensor models interoperability using the community sensor model specification
Jason Laura, Jesse Mapel, Trent M. Hare
2020, Earth and Space Science (7)
This paper presents the photogrammetric foundations upon which the Community Sensor Model specification depends, describes common coordinate system and reference frame transformations that support conversion between image sensor (charge‐coupled device) coordinates to some arbitrary body coordinate, and describes the U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Community Sensor Model implementation (<a class="linkBehavior" href="https://github.com/USGS-Astrogeology/usgscsm"...
Predicting suitable habitat for dreissenid mussel invasion in Texas based on climatic and lake physical characteristics
M. A. Barnes, Reynaldo Patino
2020, Management of Biological Invasions (11) 63-79
Eurasian zebra and quagga mussels were likely introduced to the Laurentian Great Lakes via ballast water release in the 1980s, and their range has since expanded across the US, including some of their southernmost occurrences in Texas. Their spread into the state has resulted in a need to revise previous...
The right trait in the right place at the right time: Matching traits to environment improves restoration outcomes
Kathleen R. Balazs, Andrea T. Kramer, Seth M. Munson, Nora Talkington, Shannon Still, Bradley J. Butterfield
2020, Ecological Applications (30)
(Munson) The challenges of restoration in dryland ecosystems are growing due to a rise in anthropogenic disturbance and increasing aridity. Plant functional traits are often used to predict plant performance and can offer a window into the potential outcomes of restoration efforts across environmental gradients. We tracked 15 years of...
Lessons learned implementing an operational continuous United States national land change monitoring capability: The Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) approach
Jesslyn F. Brown, Heather J. Tollerud, Christopher Barber, Qiang Zhou, John L. Dwyer, James Vogelmann, Thomas Loveland, Curtis Woodcock, Stephen V. Stehman, Zhe Zhu, Bruce Pengra, Kelcy Smith, Josephine Horton, George Z. Xian, Roger F. Auch, Terry L. Sohl, Kristi Sayler, Alisa L. Gallant, Daniel Zelenak, Ryan R. Reker, Jennifer R. Rover
2020, Remote Sensing of Environment (238)
Growing demands for temporally specific information on land surface change are fueling a new generation of maps and statistics that can contribute to understanding geographic and temporal patterns of change across large regions, provide input into a wide range of environmental modeling studies, clarify the drivers of change, and provide...
Preliminary report on applications of machine learning techniques to the Nevada geothermal play fairway analysis
James Faulds, Stephen C. Brown, Mark F. Coolbaugh, John H. Queen, Sven Treitel, Michael Fehler, Eli Mlawsky, Jonathan M.G. Glen, Cary Lindsey, Erick R. Burns, Connor M. Smith, Chen Gu, Bridget F. Ayling
2020, Conference Paper, Proceedings: 45th workshop on geothermal reservoir engineering
We are applying machine learning (ML) techniques, including training set augmentation and artificial neural networks, to mitigate key challenges in the Nevada play fairway project. The study area includes ~85 active geothermal systems as potential training sites and >12 geologic, geophysical, and geochemical features. The main goal is to develop...
Play fairway analysis in geothermal exploration: The Snake River plain volcanic province
John W. Shervais, Jonathan M.G. Glen, Drew L. Siler, Lee Liberty, Dennis Nielson, Sabodh Garg, Patrick Dobson, Erika Gasperikova, Eric Sonnenthal, Dennis Newell, James E. Evans, Jacob DeAngelo, Jared R. Peacock, Tait E. Earney, William D. Schermerhorn, Ghanashyam Neupane
2020, Conference Paper, Proceedings: 45th workshop on geothermal reservoir engineering
The Snake River volcanic province (SRP) has long been considered a target for geothermal development. It overlies a thermal anomaly that extends deep into the mantle and represents one of the highest heat flow provinces in North America, but systematic exploration been hindered by lack of a conceptual model. Play...
Acute and chronic toxicity of sodium nitrate and sodium sulfate to several freshwater organisms in water-only exposures
Ning Wang, Rebecca A. Dorman, Chris D. Ivey, David J. Soucek, Amy Dickinson, Bethany K. Kunz, Jeffery A. Steevens, Edward J. Hammer, Candice R. Bauer
2020, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (39) 1071-1085
Elevated nitrate (NO3) and sulfate (SO4) in surface water are of global concern, and studies are needed to generate toxicity data to develop environmental guideline values for NO3 and SO4. The present study was designed to fill existing gaps in toxicity databases by determining the acute and/or chronic toxicity of...